Containers for dispensing comestibles, such as dry cereal and other foodstuffs, are widely utilized. These containers are provided in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and designs and generally serve to store bulk quantities of a particular foodstuff. Individual portions of the foodstuff may then be dispensed from the container as desired. By providing bulk quantities of the foodstuff, the cost of each individual portion may be reduced somewhat relative to prepackaged individual servings of the same foodstuff. Additionally, by dispensing individual portions of a foodstuff from a container storing a bulk quantity of the foodstuff, the quantity of packaging that is generally discarded as waste is significantly reduced in comparison to the prepackaged individual servings of the same foodstuff.
One common example of a container for dispensing comestibles is a dry cereal dispenser. Dry cereal dispensers are employed in many settings including, for example, the breakfast bars provided by hotels to serve their patrons a complimentary breakfast on the morning after their overnight stay. These breakfast bars generally include a selection of foodstuffs, such as rolls, fruit and dry cereals, as well as a variety of juices, coffee, milk and other drinks. With respect to the dry cereal, although breakfast bars may include prepackaged individual servings, breakfast bars commonly include a dry cereal dispenser for dispensing individual servings of dry cereal from a bulk quantity stored by the dispenser for the reasons set forth above. In a typical example, a breakfast bar includes several dry cereal dispensers with each dispenser containing a different type of dry cereal. These dry cereal dispensers may be freestanding or may be housed in a carousel.
One conventional dry cereal dispenser includes an upstanding vessel having a handle and a hinged lid covering the otherwise open top of the vessel. By opening the lid and tipping the dispenser, dry cereal may be poured into a bowl. This type of dry cereal dispenser is generally effective for dispensing dry cereal. In this regard, the dry cereal dispenser generally handles relatively well and permits dry cereal to be poured from the dispenser relatively easily. However, this type of dispenser has several shortcomings. In particular, this type of dry cereal dispenser is difficult, if not impossible, to sanitize; therefore undesirably subjecting the dry cereal to contaminants. This conventional type of cereal dispenser generally has several features that are difficult, if not impossible, to clean that serve as sites at which contaminants accumulate.
For example, the handle is generally connected to the vessel by means of two or more fasteners that extend from within the vessel through the sidewall of the vessel and into the handle. As such, the heads of the fasteners are exposed within the vessel and are difficult, if not impossible, to sanitize. Similarly, the lid is commonly connected to the vessel by a hinge. The hinge, in turn, is generally connected to both the lid and the vessel by means of fasteners, some of which extend through the lid and some of which extend through the sidewall of the vessel. The heads of these fasteners are also difficult, if not impossible, to sanitize. These exposed fasteners therefore serve as sites for the accumulation of contamination within the vessel. Furthermore, this type of dry cereal dispenser generally has a sealed bottom. In many instances, the bottom of the dispenser intersects the sidewalls of the vessel to form a corner that may either define a right angle or be radiused, albeit with a relatively small radius. In these instances, the corner between the sidewalls and the bottom of the vessel is also difficult, if not impossible, to sanitize and serves as yet an additional site for contamination. As will be apparent, the exposure of virtually any comestible, including dry cereal, to contaminants is undesirable.
The manner in which this type of dry cereal dispenser is refilled may also pose a problem. In this regard, the dry cereal dispenser is refilled by opening the lid and pouring additional dry cereal into the vessel through the open top. While this method of refilling is adequate in instances in which the vessel has been emptied prior to being refilled, dry cereal dispensers of this type are sometimes refilled with fresh cereal while older cereal remains in the lower portions of the vessel. If this practice of refilling is repeated, the upper portions of the dry cereal dispenser may include fresh cereal, but older and, in some instances, undesirable cereal may stagnate in the lower portions of the vessel.
In addition to the upstanding dispenser that permits dry cereal or other comestibles to be poured from an open top, other dispensers have been developed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,769 to Carmine J. Capriglione describes a cereal dispenser having a cylindrical receptacle that is divided into three substantially equally sized compartments for storing and dispensing different cereals. The lower portion of each compartment defines an outlet covered by a hinged flap such that cereal may be dispensed by opening a respective flap. In addition to the dispenser described by U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,769, other dispensers that dispense cereal from an outlet defined by a lower portion of the dispenser have been developed.
A more complex dispenser is described by U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,754 to Romeo M. Ishaya, et al. This dispenser includes a storage bin for storing the cereal, a dispenser proximate lower portions of the storage bin for receiving cereal from the storage bin and for controllably dispensing the cereal, and a stand for supporting the dispenser and the storage bin. More specifically, the dispenser includes an auger that may be rotated in order to discharge cereal through a discharge opening and into a bowl. The auger is disposed in the passage leading from the storage bin to the discharge opening and controls the quantity of cereal dispensed into the bowl. As will be apparent from its relatively complex design, this dispenser may also be somewhat difficult, if not impossible, to completely sanitize and therefore may expose the cereal or other comestibles to contamination. Additionally, this more complex dispenser is generally more expensive than the dispensers comprised of an upstanding vessel from which the dry cereal or other comestibles may be poured.
As such, it would be desirable to develop a container for dispensing comestibles, such as dry cereal, that can be completely sanitized so as to prevent exposure of the comestibles to contamination. Additionally, it would be desirable to develop a sanitizable container for dispensing comestibles that is relatively inexpensive and is intuitive to both use and to clean.